Don't know if anyone has emailed Peter Grasch, the main maker of Simon?

Maybe he can help with ironing out the niggles of compiling, (or provide an sfs or pet..I'm joking).

There is also a windows version, might be worth running up the flagpost on Tazoc's Lighthouse Pup 64 with wine (his pup's always seem comprehensive on wine ) just to get a feel of the program. Don't know what it needs to test that out tho', his blog mentioned thousands of extra files, shudder..

So is this going to talk to Orca? Never seen it, just read that there was a pup that had a screenreader and edi something built in a few years ago.

I read the Simon manual and it doesn't seem to have a screenreader built in..

Just throwing a few ideas into the pot.

Interesting that Raymond Kurzweil started a lot of this off, he used to make some great sampler keyboards, then I read that he wants to dig up his dad, to extract some dna and then add his own memories to make a new dad.
He now has accepted a post at Google.
And I am now glad that I went with Akai Samplers lol.

*as a reader i was planning on using espeak and making a few simplebash command scripts custom to my own application that annoyingly announce all system events and "visible" text when it is referenced...

I cannot speak for orca or Peter Grasch or wine tho...i defer those questions to deeper minds who know more about the inner workings of compiling the thing and getting it drunk. Also I re-assert my disdain for everything microsoft. My system has wine, but only for posterity. I dont ACTUALLY have any windows software to use with it, as a matter of principle.

_________________"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

Hello again all !
I am no expert by any means lol but what about converting from ubuntu ? simon is in raring pkg data base ? Just thinking out loud here !_________________"PUPPY" POWERED BY PEOPLE
AKITA LINUX kernel 2.6.32.28

I have planted the seed of a 64bit STT.SFS to work on Fatdog. The person in question is a really good coder and may provide some help. Lets wait and see if I get a response from a PM I sent him this morning. He may not be interested or simply too busy.

As much as I don't like the restrictiveness of Apple products, I have to admit the iPad3 is pretty slick. Last night I learned how to do the following, all with voice commands, no typing:
Open the Mail program
Select the address from the address book
Add a subject
Dictate the message
Then send it

smokey01, I am sold. I will upgrade everything in my arsenal today that is 64bit to Fatdog64-621in preparation for this SFS.

I have to agree with you about Apple products being slick---but I have to tell you that if you are using SIRI to accomplish that STT on the iPad, what you are using is not a speech-to-text "program" as much as is a text-to-speech "service".

It will be difficult to replicate the robust nature of the SIRI system using a software approach only. I do not think it will be impossible though and I can only imagine that training will help...I cannot help but wonder how difficult it would be to reverse-engineer and replicate that infrastructure Apple is using as a software-supporting back end server for the Puppy Speech Interface (PupSI)...a dedicated server to process and store all speech input from every speech user, to assist all current and future users of PupSI...

...even if that is not the way we want to use the PupSI interface and set up the infrastructure TODAY, it is still helpful to bear in mind how other successful and envy-worthy STT systems have set up their own architecture, especially if we intend to mimic them some day.

IF you feel like a dedicated server is (or may be) necessary or helpful for this effort now or in the future, I have a few machines sitting around here I am happy to re purpose into Puppy LAMPs for us to use. Say the word and I will set them up and put them online as per your request.

I am off to go hunt down an ISO for FATDOG. I dont suppose anyone has a link to a mirror ?

Cheers and THANK YOU AGAIN smokey01, and catdude, and whomever else has their dirty little paws in this mud pie of madness. U guys rock my lame arse!

partsman... I have no idea about converting from ubuntu. I defer that question to someone who is knows more... _________________"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

Cool reading this thread, and maybe Smokey's programmer might have a bit of time to spare on the STT TTS marriage project.

Interesting reading about your account of Siri H4LF82, it seems to be some back engine on the interweb doing all the stuff?. And there lies their weakness.

They (the big guys) have to appeal to the "Where can I get a latte right now" mentality and I guess this costs massive resources.

Then there are the politicians who might ask "Where can I get a damned good whipping.." and again this might be supplied by the engine and lot and lots of other addresses and databases..and lots of more questions and requests, but I digress..

Basically that costs a lot of infrastructure and hot hard drives somewhere.

Scripts or whatever they are could be written by Puppy users to supplement the complicated system that would be required by a blind person. For intance, I could train it to "shutdown" and that could be added, whilst maybe someone else is training it to "Turn Volume up" and all these
macro words could be assigned to easily interpreted words or numbers.

Then finally, "Shut down Puppy"..answer from comp "Wanna create a save file or was there nothing worth saving?"

If that was so, then what's the problem with Puppy being both the client and server?

Actually when you think about it, Ipad is lazy because every one contains the same hardware (I think, so that narrows down the setup problem).

Not insurmountable, but do you think it would be best if it was targetted to one series, like netbooks or whatever is in vogue? Then the voice commands could setup the same sound video and ether stuff more easily.
Or maybe the takeup of Puppy by blind users is very small.

There might be more suitable stuff around that fulfills their requirements.

It's no wonder things die around here because of the complexity, but like partsman said, it's a sort of gradual evolvement, and if it's an enjoyable achievement, then there's no harm in that. And it's a positive step in equality of computer use.

Anyways it's good to talk about the concept, but maybe to some it might be like reinventing the wheel or something

Smithy...i think the "idea" is one thing...the application of that idea is quite another.

Sure it would be great to have puppy all set up from the install with all of the programming necessary to begin Speech-input immediately with the STT-TTS full-duplex system built right in...that is certainly the end game...but pragmatism dictates the "something else" we will get instead.

Without a STT engine to play with in the first place, we cannot hope to have any sort of full-duplex system in the second place. First we must crawl, then and only then do we walk.

Siri "screws its own pooch" by sending "local" information to a second or third location for processing...and then sends it back. meaning lots of expensive hard drives and processors whirring in some underground data-center somewhere. Our STT engine will likely do all of that processing locally---at least at first.

I believe it is expecting too much here to believe that this solution will join STT and TTS in a united marriage of blissful proportions---but that is not to say that such a union is not possible here. It is simply uxexampled as yet, and no example will ever present itself without a STT engine to begin playing and working with.

I believe that a "reasonable goal" would be the full-duplex, but as for today, we will have to settle for building the tools to build that duplex system. prepare for the crawl that will ultimately lead to the sprint.

As for myself, I can say that I will be supremely happy to just be able to BEGIN the work of joining the incredible TTS options already at my fingertips with the STT options that smokey01 and his band of merry men will undoubtedly produce.

I do not expect to be spoon-fed custom software. I expect that this is a journey that will take many weeks and maybe months to get right, and only after much hard work on my part, and only with the help of this forum, will such a system be built.

So make no mistake---a TTS/STT full duplex is the ultimate goal....but today I will be thrilled to simply meet the preliminary goal of having the tools necessary to create such a duplex system, as it is most difficult to develop a STT/TTS Full Duplex without the STT component.

Ultimately there may end up being a "seeing-eye-dog" distribution built for the user who had no video and no input devices that can be installed via voice input only. That is what I would like to see as the end result of this. I would settle for much less though.

Quote:

Or maybe the takeup of Puppy by blind users is very small.

Actually, at this moment, I would say that the takeup of Puppy by blind users practically non-existent. How could it be anything but? Puppy is about as helpful (at this moment) to blind users as books and maps are. Books and maps (and Puppy Linux) all have "not made specifically for the blind" in common, so there is a good reason the blind do not use them.

They WOULD use them, though, if such tools were available.

If you build it, they will come...

THAT is my goal here---with the STT engine, I can begin building bash tools and working with other forum members like Ted Dog, partsman, and yourself (who see the immediate value of such an engine) to begin putting together these functionalities that will ultimately make Puppy Linux THE GO TO OpSys for the visually impaired, as well as the coffee-fueled hipster looking for the nearest starbucks.

I dont think its re-inventing the wheel. The wheel did not need re-inventing for use on wheelchairs, it simply needed a swivel on the front wheels---an "extra part". I think its just adding a part, making the wheel act "rounder" and "more uni-directional" for those of us who require casters that move in more than one direction is a more accurate description._________________"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

I was able to boot Fatdog64 quite happily--though connecting to the internet via my wireless NIC seems like it will be my first chore. Ill look on the forum for the solution and I will find it there no doubt...

for the moment though it can be assumed that the fatdog is my new Operating System, as it runs on my equipment straight out of the box and will (I assume) connect wirelessly just as soon as I figure out where the internet connection wizard is and how to wrap up the driver in a NDIS Wrapper....

Good TImes!

Cheers and thanks again everybody! Im off to tinker and discover the inner workings of my new obese friend _________________"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

I too have played with knoppix ! I belive there is also a program "cant think of the name " that uses the webcam and movement from your head to interact with mouse functions ! So yes adriane may hold some of the
answers I personaly didnt care for knoppix as an OS but it is a remakable live cd ! _________________"PUPPY" POWERED BY PEOPLE
AKITA LINUX kernel 2.6.32.28

I will say this for Knoppix---regardless of if I use FatDog or Knoppix, its still a foreign operating system to me I am going to have to relearn all over again. If you cannot do it smokey01, you cant do it, and I understand. Its alright man. I forgive you, but is it really necessary to send me out into the dark night with a complete stranger?

Thats how I feel when I hear anyone on this forum suggests "Knoppix". Knoppix is a 'One Size Fits Many' solution, but too often people take it for granted that must mean "One Size Fits ALL', and it does not mean that at ALL...

On the topic of Knoppix, I have this to say...

Knoppix is very much like so many other 'liberating' technologies intended to empower those of us who have limitations, and they are effective at their job of "empowerment" to some. Like the 'Wooden Leg' or the 'hearing aid', these technologies were in large part designed by those not actually suffering from the disability they were intending to compensate for, and very often it is the case that these technologies fall short in their duty and performance because of this failing in the engineering and design stages by the person doing the designing who does not entirely understand the need for the very design they are attempting to create.

In other words...One who does not understand how difficult it is to jump hurdles without legs cannot possibly expect to equip others without legs in the fine art of hurdle jumping..

The person who designed the very first wooden leg likely was a caveman missing a leg themselves, and found an appropriate sized tree limb to act as a substitute as a matter of necessity while foraging for berries one day. one minute he is hopping around on one leg, the next he discovers the tree limb contoured perfectly for his missing appendage and he is running on two feet like a pixie.

He did not see an orthopedist specialist or a physical therapist who arranged for a custom fit and titanium hardware and months of therapy. He picked up the stick and was able to run with it because it was SO PERFECT.

...and it has taken medical science thousands and THOUSANDS of years to come as close as they have to surpassing the level of perfection achieved by the caveman fashioning tree limbs into artificial human limbs. Only within the last 50 years or so have our "wooden legs" not been made out of carved wood, you know...

Now lets take what we know about legs and making them from wood and apply that same logic to eyes. Giving your blind wife her own pair of hand carved wooden eyes because she has none of her own is the stuff love songs are written about, and it seems very romantic, but start passing those wooden eyes around the room for all the other blind people to try on and your romantic love ballad quickly turns into a Vaudeville Show or a carnival attraction. Is it fair to expect the same one wooden leg (or eye) to work on every person missing a leg or an eye?

No.

Why?

Because each individual has his or her own individual needs. For this reason, if there is already a pair of 'wooden eyes' made for Adriane that we can copy, and does the world really need another pair of 'Adirane's wooden eyes' to make more copies of? Is more copies really what is missing here?

Again, no. Copies of Adriane's wooden eyes have been around for the last 5 years or so, and they are not a "one size fits all". They ARE, however a perfect example to model of HOW similar prosthetic eyes should be designed.

Ideally, "prosthetic eyes" should be available in EVERY SIZE just like wooden legs and hearing aides are today, and failing that, they should be designed by the person receiving the specific pair of 'prosthetic eyes' (or by their spouse) and failing that, the designer and the designee should work CLOSELY together to insure all of the effort that goes into carving a pair of prosthetic eyes is not wasted, as this design specific to this one pair of eyes will be helpful to MANY more than just this one person.

If one needs "wooden eyes" what shopping choices does one have?
Windows is one.
Apples Siri is another.
Knoppix is yet another.

...and yet none of them fits me...

A STT option in Puppy would fit me (though after trying to acquaint myself with fatdog I am left with 10x as many questions as I have answers--I am not really feeling it yet with regard to fatdog64 smokey01--tho I will keep trying) and if it were on Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 it would fit me even better.

It would also fit quadriplegics better, having no fingers to type with themselves...and elderly people who cannot conceptualize what a computer even does. It would likely be a better fit for parents of autistic children who often need their hands to calm a fit or a seizure while simultaneously seeking medical help, the list just goes on and on. This is one missing size that would fit SO MANY, besides just me.

Thank you for all your effort smokey01! I wouldnt even be HAVING this conversation now if it werent for you, so for the opportunity, if nothing else, I am grateful. I say again if it cannot be done it cannot be done, and you know the answer to that better than I do. What can I do to help besides appreciate the effort and offer what input I know to add?

Cheers!_________________"The wise know their weakness too well to assume infallibility; and he who knows most, knows best how little he knows." - Thomas Jefferson

Has google based voice search installed, in latest precise puppy. It's a spin-off of another thread adding helpful tools in puppy linux for disabled persons. Could be a good fix for your exact request. Includes a camera based mouse, move your head to control the cursor. The other tools also included are also helpful.

The download site causes me all sorts of headaches, you must check download against checksum. It does not allow use of WGET, so it generally requires a very highspeed internet, to avoid corruption. Hope to download it today at a friends house in the big city with fast internet,

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